The Fukuoka High Court ruled Thursday that the disparity in the weight of the votes cast in the House of Councilors election in July was “in a state of unconstitutionality” but rejected the plaintiffs’ demand to nullify the results. The plaintiffs — a group ...

Major opposition groups have been rocked by intensifying internal strife since the Upper House election, and with the secretaries-general of the Democratic Party of Japan, Your Party and Nippon Ishin no Kai (Japan Restoration Party) launching a nonpartisan policy study group next week, speculation ...

Disarray in the Democratic Party of Japan continued Friday as members approved the immediate resignation of Secretary-General Goshi Hosono, in an about-face to their president’s earlier decision to keep him in the post until the end of August. The largest opposition group was also ...

Mizuho Fukushima, head of the Social Democratic Party for nearly a decade, resigned Thursday to take responsibility for the party’s losses in Sunday’s Upper House election and the Lower House election in December. The SDP, whose predecessor was once the largest opposition party from ...

Sunday’s overwhelming victory by the Liberal Democratic Party has created a dilemma for the United States, which wants closer economic and military ties with Tokyo even as it fears that Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and his Cabinet now have free reign to pursue a ...

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe pledged Monday to stay focused on efforts to revive Japan’s moribund economy and to not aggressively pursue his goal of amending the pacifist Constitution, even though his Liberal Democratic Party-New Komeito bloc now controls the Diet. Speaking to reporters a ...

China is apprehensive about Japan becoming more nationalistic after Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s ruling coalition scored a comfortable win in Sunday’s Upper House election, giving the ruling bloc control of both Diet chambers for the first time in six years. Chinese media and some ...

Twenty-two of the 105 women who ran in Sunday’s House of Councilors election won seats, up five from the previous Upper House election in 2010. Eleven women were elected from both prefectural constituencies and via the proportional representation system. While all nine women from ...